Добавил:
Upload Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз: Предмет: Файл:
УМК ИН ЯЗ.doc
Скачиваний:
42
Добавлен:
27.09.2019
Размер:
1.57 Mб
Скачать

The radzivils

There were many noble families in the history of Belarus; however none was more renowned than the Radzivil family. The family left its imprint on a wide variety of human endeavours – from public and political life to culture and education. Members of the family were leaders in wars against the enemies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later of the Polish-Lithuanian (Belarussian) Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. For centuries they meticulously collected and preserved books, documents, paintings, weaponry, and many rare and valuable objects that could fill entire museums. With their own money, the Radzivils built painting shops in Berestie (nowadays Brest), Nyesvizh, and other Belarussian cities. They not only influenced politics, economics and culture of their nation, but often did it according to their own needs, aspirations and tastes-History has preserved for us many names of the family members. Let us mention some of them here. Barbara Radzivil (1520-1551), the Queen of Poland and duchess of Lithuania, was “Triumphant by her beauty and love affairs”. Indeed, the love she awoke in the heart of polish king Zyhimont II August was called “the love affair of the century”.

Mikalaj Radzivil Corny (Black) (1515-1565) occupied the following high and responsible posts in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: great chancellor, gove­rnor (vajavoda) of Vilna (capital of the Great Duchy, nowadays Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania), major of Bieras’cie (nowadays Brest), Kounia (nowadays Kaunas in Lithuania) and Barysau and administrator of Livonia. Throughout his entire political career he instituted a firm policy of strengthening the sovereignty of the Belarusian state, and skillfully implemented agrarian and economic reform. Due to his consistent political positions, our state reached its highest prosperity with its public life based on legal principles. As chancellor, Mikalaj Radzivil far-sightedly defined new priorities for our state’s foreign policy in the 16th century that led to a closer integration with countries of Western and Northern Europe. His efforts and sponsorship led to the establishment, in Belarus, of large publishing centres, which provided the opportunity for the continuation of Dr. Francisk Skaryna’s tradition. Duke Mikalaj Radzivil was fluent in Belarusian, Polish and other European languages.

His son Mikalaj Kristof Radzivil-Sirotka (1549-1616), ardent Catholic, headed the fight against Calvinism and issued orders to bum books published by Calvinist printing houses. At the same time, he exerted a great effort to make the architecture of the Radzivil palace in Nyesvizh equal to that of contemporary European cities. He was famous as the author of a detailed travelogue describing his journey to Jerusalem, Syria, Egypt and other “exotic” countries and places.

Franciska Ursula Radzivil (1705-1753) and her husband Michael Kazimir Radzivil Ryban’ka (1702-1762), also from the Nyesvizh branch, were the creators of the first Slavic secular theatre